five interruptions, one happy ending
by Caliente
Summary: set post-2009!film; no spoilers/references to Into Darkness –– Christine and Leonard just want a moment to themselves—is that so much to ask? Apparently, yes. –– featuring appearances by obnoxious!Jim Kirk and skilled!Nyota Uhura


**Author's Note:** Written for lullabymoon as part of the McChapel holiday exchange on livejournal. No spoilers for Into Darkness. I'm not entirely happy with the ending, so that might change. And it's unbeta'd- I finished too late (procrastinated too long?) for that.**  
Prompt: **Their schedules keep clashing and both are getting crankier by the day. What sort of stolen moments do they manage to grab, and do they eventually go for drastic measures? Could be any time in their relationship.  
**Disclaimer:** Characters mentioned are used without permission and are trademarks of CBS/Gene Roddenberry. I do not own them and am simply borrowing for my purposes. Please don't sue.

**five interruptions, one happy ending  
**by Bether

**Day 1**

It was the first meal they'd had alone together in more days than either could remember. Oh, sure, Dr. McCoy and Nurse Chapel had shared a table in the mess more than once but that was usually with colleagues and then it was right back to work for one or both of them.

Tonight was different. Tonight was a _proper_ dinner complete with glassware and fake candles. Leonard was hosting, much to Christine's delight. (There was something undeniably sexy about a man that could cook.) She was sitting at the table, watching unabashedly as he brought the last dish to the table.

"Cornbread to go with the jambalaya?" she asked hopefully. (You could take the girl out of New Orleans but there was no taking New Orleans out of the girl.)

Leonard smirked and opened his mouth to respond.

The red alert klaxons went off instead.

His smirk was immediately replaced by a frown. "Oh for crying out loud—" Leonard shook his head as he unbuttoned his shirt. "This damn well better be an emergency and not another drill."

Grabbing the spare uniform Christine kept in his room with one hand, she tossed his uniform toward him with the other. "Hold your tongue!" she scolded in a mostly playful tone. She paused to strip off her dress in one smooth pull and for a moment Leonard was distracted by his underwear-clad girlfriend. Another quick motion and she was redressed in a skirted uniform. "Or you might just get what you wished for."

Leonard rolled his eyes, then tugged his own shirt on and gestured for her to exit ahead of him. (Despite the mouth on him, he had some surprisingly gentlemanly habits—probably drilled into him by a strong Southern mother.) "Yeah, yeah," he grumbled as he followed her out.

Christine gave his hand a squeeze as they quickly made their way to Sickbay and Leonard seemed slightly less grumpy for it. She smiled and tried not to think of the mouthwatering smells of the dinner they weren't eating or their ruined alone time. (The casualties around the 'ship helped quite a bit with that.)

By the time they were able to return to Leonard's quarters, both were far too exhausted to contemplate eating (let alone anything else). Christine stripped off her boots and bra, then collapsed into bed beside a shirtless Leonard. He was already snoring faintly and she soon followed him into unconsciousness.

…

**Day 2**

The door to Leonard's office chimed and he grunted some kind of affirmative, not bothering to look up. Until—"Crew evaluations, Doctor." A stack of PADDs landed on his desk.

Leonard paid them little mind, instead looking up at his Head Nurse with one brow quirked in his signature way. "A special delivery—to what do I owe the honor?" This was usually the sort of thing she'd have one of the junior nurses do.

Christine slipped around his desk, taking a seat on his lap and putting her arms around his neck. "Well, work interrupted our personal time last night, so I decided we could interrupt work for a few minutes of personal time."

Smirking, he pulled her closer. "Did you now?"

Christine nuzzled his neck. "Mm, I missed you this morning." She nipped his earlobe and Leonard silently cursed early morning briefings.

"Believe me," he said, pulling away just enough to look her in the eyes, "I would have much rather—"

"Bones!" Jim Kirk's voice was as piercing as it was moment killing. "Bones, where are you?"

Christine gave Leonard a quick peck on the lips before climbing off of him. "Duty calls." She offered him an ironic smile, nodding toward Sickbay. "Literally, in this case."

Leonard frowned deeply in the same direction. "I really hate that idiot sometimes."

"I know you do," she said in her Placating Nurse voice.

That earned her a scowl of her own, which was quickly followed by Jim barging into his office. "Bones! There you—" He cut himself off when he caught sight of Christine and grinned widely. "Nurse Chapel, what a _pleasant_ surprise." He gave the pair, who now had the desk separating them, a speculative look. "Not interrupting anything, am I?"

Leonard crossed his arms, visibly unamused. Christine, on the other hand, was stuck between laughing and sighing again. She settled on a forced polite smile. "Of course not, Captain—I was dropping off some files." She nodded to both men and exited.

"If that's the case," Jim wondered aloud after the doors swished shut behind her, "then why do you look so annoyed?"

"Because, Jim," Leonard said slowly as if speaking to a particularly slow child (which he was not entirely convinced was not the case), "you're annoying."

Jim tried to look affronted but couldn't quite get the smile off his face. "Aw, you know you love me, Bones."

With a tired sigh, Leonard rubbed a hand over his face. "Just get on with it already, would you? I'm short on patience today, no thanks to last night." He punctuated his statement with a disapproving look.

"You're no fun," Jim pouted.

"Then why don't you find someone else to bother?" Leonard asked pointedly.

The captain just laughed and gave him a friendly smack on the shoulder. (That was when Leonard knew it was just the beginning of a long day.)

…

**Day 3**

Christine smiled triumphantly as she slid into the seat across from Leonard. "_There_ you are! I didn't think I'd get you alone at all today." Their schedules just weren't synching up.

Leonard snorted. "If you can consider being surrounded by people in the mess 'alone,'" he pointed out dryly before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Oh, shush." Christine crossed her legs primly and leaned forward, resting her chin in hand. (It was then that he noticed she hadn't brought any food with her.) "Snagging a two person table is nothing to sniff at, Doctor—and behind the bulkhead no less." All in all, it was about as private a place as one could find in the mess.

Leonard thought he felt something on his ankle but most of his focus was on the woman across from him. "Luck of the draw."

There was something predatory in how Christine was eyeing him and Leonard _knew_ he felt something stroking his calf. "I'll say."

Raising his brow, Leonard mirrored her position and leaned in. "Why, if I didn't know any better, Nurse, I'd think you're trying to seduce me." Her foot was now up to his thigh and rising higher still.

"And if I am?" she purred.

Leonard smirked. "Then I'm—"

A call rang out through the mess: _"Sickbay to Doctor McCoy."_

The disappointment on Christine's face was met with equal fervor by Leonard's frustration. He stood, adjusted his uniform, then walked to the wall comm and slapped it with far more force than necessary. "_What?_"

It was a moment before he received a response. _"Um, it's Ensign Rogers, sir. Her appendix burst."_ Leonard swore under his breath. _"We're prepping her for surgery now."_

Leonard pressed the wall comm more calmly this time. "I'm on my way." He glanced at Christine and she waved with his half-eaten sandwich. He smiled halfheartedly and headed out. Nothing like a medical emergency to ruin the mood.

…

**Day 4**

It was some ungodly hour when Christine slipped into Leonard's quarters, already apologizing before the doors finished closing behind her. "Sorry! I know I'm late and we've barely seen each other in days but Commander Spock asked me to help with an endocrine study the science department is running. They've been having some problems and it's my area of expertise and, well, I was curious, so—"

Leonard cut her off with a soft but firm kiss to the mouth. "Hi, darlin'."

Christine took a breath and smiled in return. "Hi." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned into him to resume the kiss.

A minute or so later, a voice interrupted: _"Uhura to Chapel."_

Christine growled in the back of her throat but broke away from Leonard all the same. "Hold that thought." She walked to the wall comm and pressed it. "Chapel here."

_"Christine, I got you the live feed."_

Her jaw dropped. "_Seriously?_" Her whole face lit up and she grinned widely. "Nyota, thank you! Thank you so, _so_ much!"

_"Not a problem. Where should I direct it?"_

Christine glanced at Leonard who nodded his ascent. "McCoy's quarters."

_"Done; link up should go live in two minutes. Uhura out."_

Christine grinned excitedly and Leonard found himself smiling, too. "What was all that about?"

"It's my parent's fiftieth anniversary," she explained as she moved over to the desk, "and I'm the only one who can't be there, so I asked Nyota if she could pull some strings." Her grin widened. "I didn't really think she'd be able to do it but—"

The screen flashed on and there were Christine's parents as real as the day she'd left. "Momma! Daddy!"

Leonard ducked into the bedroom to give her some privacy, intent on passing the time with the medical journals stacking up on his personal PADD.

An hour later, Christine found him unconscious and sprawled on the bed with an abandoned PADD beside him. She smiled at the picture he made, putting away his reading before slipping into her pajamas and climbing in beside him. Not how she'd pictured the night going but it was late and, honestly, she could use the sleep.

…

**Day 5**

Christine was rather surprised when Spock commandeered her services again, this time during her duty shift. But she dutifully passed off her nursing duties to her number two, then headed to the science lab his team was using.

It reminded her of being in the Academy, doing this sort of work. (Not to say that the medical staff didn't use the labs because they did regularly but this was very specific work and in her area of academic study.) And just like those days, Christine became absolutely absorbed in her work. So much so that she hardly noticed the comings and goings of others unless they directly addressed her.

Which was probably why she was so very caught off-guard when someone greeted her with an embrace from behind. He nearly got a broken nose for his trouble but, lucky for him, she recognized his person in time to stop the imminent head-butt.

That didn't save him a scolding, though. "Jesus, McCoy—you scared me!"

"Oh so it's McCoy now?" His voice was a deep rumble in her ear that made a shiver race down her spine. (One she suspected was completely unrelated to the adrenaline coursing through her body.)

His hold was loose, so Christine turned to face him without breaking it. "It is when you startle me." She smacked his shoulder playfully. "I might be convinced to forgive you, though."

The signature McCoy Brow Raise appeared. "That so?"

Something occurred to Christine then—like her, Leonard was still on shift. "What're you doing here anyway?" she asked curiously.

"Checking on some cultures," he answered easily.

Her shrewd expression said she wasn't buying it. "This isn't the lab you usually use."

Leonard made a point of glancing around. "Hmm," his gaze rested back on Christine's face, "something must've drawn me here."

A smile played on Christine's lips as she leaned up, intent on kissing her boyfriend.

_"All medical personnel please report to Sickbay immediately. Repeat: all medical personnel please report to Sickbay immediately."_

Falling back onto her heels, Christine sighed in aggravation. "Figures," she muttered darkly.

Leonard looked a bit like someone had kicked his puppy, and he couldn't decide whether he wanted to beat up said person or sulk about his injured pup.

Christine patted his cheek comfortingly. "C'mon, grumpy; must be something big if they've put out the all hands call."

She wasn't wrong, either—after some kind of catastrophe in engineering, dozens of engineers needed treatment for plasma burns of varying size, shape and severity. Twelve hours later, Christine was finally forced out of Sickbay. Leonard was still in surgery and likely would be for some time, so she stuffed her frustration and trudged off duty.

…

**Day 6**

Christine should've gone to bed—a _sensible_ person would've gone to bed. She only had eight hours, and then she'd be due back on duty. But the exhaustion she felt went so far beyond her usual tiredness that it demanded more drastic measures.

That was how Christine found herself in Leonard's bathroom, wasting the majority of her water rations for the month.

For the record, it was _worth it._ She could feel the tension and stress seep out of her as she lay soaking in the thirty-eight degree water. It absolutely perfect. (Well, almost. But the skin grafting surgery was going to take however long it was going to take and then Leonard would probably insist on staying in Sickbay the rest of the night, so. No sense in dwelling.)

She was drifting around the fringes of unconsciousness when an unlikely call pulled her out of it. "Christine? You here, darlin'?"

Rarely was she so grateful to be wrong. Christine smiled to herself and answered, "In here!"

"You fall in?" There was laughter in his voice.

"Nope," she replied cheerfully. "Just soaking in all the dirt and sweat I collected today."

Leonard appeared in the doorframe wearing nothing but a smirk on his face. "I was hoping you'd say that."

Christine laughed. "I thought you didn't approve of my _naughty habit._"

"Under the right circumstances, I could be brought around." He gestured for her to scoot forward and Christine complied. Goosebumps formed on her flesh as he slid in behind her and she bit her lip to keep from shivering. "Besides," he ran his large hands across her shoulders, kneading her tender muscles with his thumbs, "it looks to me like you could use some help washing your back."

"Mm," Christine agreed, eyes half-shut because this was _bliss._ "Yes please."

Leonard chuckled, his breath tickling her ear. "That's a good start but I think we can do better."

Christine turned so she could see him and brushed his hair off his forehead with her wet hand. "I agree." She kissed him, running her hand down his face and chest. "But since this whole week has been a lot of foreplay and frustration, maybe we should save the massages and fuck." She thumbed the tip of his cock, which seemed ready for action to her, and smiled. "Before something _else_ happens."

"Don't jinx us woman!" Leonard admonished as he pulled her flush against him. (She took that, and what followed, as an agreement. And if he felt the need to spank her later, so be it.)


End file.
